Near the end of How to Sell (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Clancy Martin's debut novel set amid Dallas' fine jewelry business, narrator Bobby Clark tackles the title question: "How do you sell a diamond to a young ­couple?" "It is very, very easy to do," he ­explains. "Find out who's in charge.... Then focus your attention on the other one...­subtly betray him." Aha! And this is hardly the book's first reveal on the fine art of selling, swindling, and scamming. How to Sell is, with memorably dark comedy, a virtual handbook on fraud.

Bobby, a hapless Calgary teen, is lured south by his older ­brother, Jim, a coke-sniffing, smooth-talking jewelry salesman who has sold his soul for the thrill of closing a deal. Bobby mimics his brother's bad habits until they stick and often flirts with danger for its own sake. The world the Clark boys build for themselves and teeter precariously upon—one driven by wads of cash, adrenaline, an indiscriminate lust for sex and money, and a misunder­standing of what in life is really at stake—is a compelling setting for Martin's propulsive storytelling. His narration feels cinematic, the sets and scenery popping off the page. With remarkable skill as the story spools out, Martin omits just enough exposition and interior ­insights to keep his characters shrouded in mystery, as if ­constantly reminding us that we'll always be the customer, never the insider. Speaking of customers, prepare to be a much shrewder one after reading How to Sell; those of tenderer sensibility, however, might heed the adage "Buyer beware."